International Day of Enforced Disappearances; US Imposes Sanctions on 14 Syrian Officials

The US State Department announced that it is imposing visa restrictions on 14 Syrian officials due to human rights violations and involvement in enforced disappearances. Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, stated in a statement released on Friday, September 9, that the Bashar al-Assad regime has long used arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances as tools to suppress critics. Mr. Miller noted that over 96,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Syria by the Assad regime, and families of these individuals receive no answers, while those seeking more information face punishment from the regime. The visa restrictions against the 14 Syrian officials were announced on August 30, coinciding with the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, but the names and identities of these officials have not yet been disclosed. The US government had previously imposed restrictions on a total of 21 other Syrian officials and their family members in December last year and March this year due to their involvement in human rights violations and enforced disappearances. In its new statement, the US State Department added: 'The United States calls on the Assad regime and other actors in Syria to end the abhorrent practice of enforced disappearances and abductions, clarify the fate of the disappeared, and release all those who are still alive.' The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance came into force in 2010. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, also name Iran as one of the countries with the highest instances of enforced disappearances, referencing the mass executions of prisoners between July and September 1988 and their secret burials. Syria, Sri Lanka, Argentina, and Zimbabwe are also mentioned as other countries with high instances of enforced disappearances.